Readers' travel tips competition: Madrid's best bars

A local watering hole, a great tapas bar, or somewhere you can dance until dawn: post a tip on your favourite bar in the Spanish capital and you could win a £200 Hotels.com voucher.

If you own the copyright to the photo then please include it but we'll be judging the text not the image so include as much information as you can - website, description and everything else you can think of. Tips should be about 100 words - and don't forget to read the terms and conditions.

Gato is the nickname given to madrileños (people from Madrid) and it is not surprising that Los gatos (Calle de Jesús 2) is one of the most castizo bars in Madrid, decorated in a style both tradicional and anarchic. In addition to beer, it serves a wonderful vermuth de barril (from the barrel) with a splendid collection of tapas. Los gatos is a small bar that contains the essence of madrileño traditions and where you can feel that you are as gato as anybody else.

La Latina is buzzing on a Sunday night; there is nowhere better for food and drink than the bars on Calle Cava Baja, and nothing more Madrileño than having a caña and a pincho before crawling next door for another round. Across the road and not to be missed is Juana La Loca with its inventive Uruguayan pintxos - the tortilla is famously (and deservedly) the best in Madrid and there's a great wine selection. Always full of locals, very lively atmosphere - though you might have to stand at the bar. A must.

With the Champions League final being played tonight between the two Madrid teams, futbol aficionados in Madrid not able to get to Lisbon can experience a sense of the occasion at the Marca Sports Bar, where a raucous evening is guaranteed for any televised match, let alone this momentous final.

As you might expect, the food is secondary to the red-hot atmosphere but the beer always cold......

A short walk from Plaza Santa Ana leads you to an unassuming sherry (fino) bar called La Venencia. However, as is often the case in this beautiful and enchanting city, behind the door offers a unique and authentic taste of Madrid to all.

Stepping into La Venencia transports you back to the 1930s with old stained wallpaper which has taken its toll from decades of love, joy, tears, anger and endless conversations between friends. In keeping with its traditional charm; tabs are kept by writing orders in chalk on the bar. This place used to be frequented by Republican soldiers during the civil war and is thought to have been a favourite of Ernest Hemingway.

The bar only sells sherry and you can make your way through the short list to find your favourite before stumbling home. It may not offer tapas, a wide range of drinks or music; however, this bar captures the charm that made me fall in love with Madrid. Try it...

This massive bar burst on the scene nearly 20 years ago. The kitchen is open all day and the bar stays open late (4-ish) at weekends. They have a beer-garden. Standard selection of Irish Pub beers plus some good cocktails and wines. The burger is good though make sure you tell them how you want it cooked! Live Pub Music on Thursdays and Fridays. What makes this special for me is the Sports coverage, lots of screens, lots of options - and I live close by!

Fantastic small bar that gets very busy on a Saturday night. Relaxed bar staff serve a great array of beers and excellent tapas food. It was only on our repeat visit on the quieter Sunday night that we realised there was a second room that was accessible by ducking under the bar

This is a small chain of very typical taverns/restaurants. You can choose tapas or helpings of all the great Spanish dishes. We recently had fried calamar rings (not greasy), blood susage from Burgos (very tasty),scrambled eggs with shrimp and garlic (huge serving and delicious) and chips with salsa brava (spicy sauce) and ali-oli sauce (garlic mayonnaise). All this washed down with a bottle of house white (young and sparkling). Total for two of us to leave very full and happy was 24€. Friendly service and lots of locals in the place mean it's still a great place to eat or have a snack or just a drink in times of recession.

Looking for great wine and tasty tapas for a decent price? Then Mercado de la Reina is the place to be. This trendy bar/restaurant is always packed and although it can sometimes be difficult to get a spot, the food and drink are worth it! Staff are oh-so friendly and it's an ideal place to chat to strike up a conversation with Spaniards! If you're struggling to decide what to order, the pimientos de padrón are delicious, the patatas bravas the best I've ever tasted and if you're not into wine, wash it all down with Mercado's slushy tinto de verano with added cinnamon - riquísimo!

Once you've had your fill of food in any one of the nearby tapas bars of central Madrid, head over to Casa Pueblo, a cosy bar that seems to be everyone in Madrid's best kept secret. Unless you arrive before 11pm, it will be busy. Yet, somehow, it is never tricky to get served.

'Copas' (spirit + mixer) and cocktails are the name of the game here – the mojitos are legendary. Gin and rum lovers will also not leave disappointed – ask for a recommendation or two, and you will be tasting ones you never knew existed. The buzzing atmosphere continues until the wee small hours, and is complemented by a décor totally unique to Madrid, great music (they seem to have every funk and soul CD ever produced), and phenomenally friendly staff.

Fantastic rooftop location - it's a bar, but also a cafe and restaurant during the day. You enter via the arts centre on the Calle del Marques de Casa Riera, and take the lift to the top floor. Fantastic views of Madrid, very reasonable prices, and great service.

This 100 year old Madrid institution is located bang in the heart of the city, just a few minutes walk from Puerto Del Sol and the museum district. Famed for its plates of prawns sizzling in hot oil and garlic, washed down with the bar's own sweet red wine you will not find a more satisfying combo in this great city. More a place to stop off for half an hour or so than to spend an entire evening, it has a constant flow of happy patrons but the experience will live long in your memory.

Fantastic bar not far away from Sol which serves huge plates of tapas and larger meals as well as an extensive wine list. Full of locals at all times, this is a place to feel like a true madrileño. To top this all off, the staff are unbelievably friendly and like to throw in a free wine on the house after the 2nd, no the 3rd, no maybe the 5th.

Slap bang in the plaza major, in the middle of all the tourist restaurants is this little gem - but the food is not the reason you're here. Every cafe and restaurant on the square is predictably overpriced, mediocre, and not representative of Madrid's generally amazing cuisine. But the drinks here are delicious, the tapa if you stand at the bar is decent, and the waiters genuine growly Spanish men. But the best bit about this little bar is the photos that line the walls. This is a bar that celebrates the bullfighter. For a start the waiters all look like they could have been one themselves, and there are some pretty memorable pictures (ask them to show you the photo with the bullfighters private parts - hint, they are not where they should be!). Whether you agree with bullfighting or not, it is a big part of Madrid, and this bar celebrates it in all it's gory machismo. Not to be missed!

Cafe Central is the place to go in Madrid for coffee and the papers in the morning when it is chilled and relaxed , for a quick drink early evening or later when the place heats up . Arrive early before 9 grab a table order some Rioja and a platter of cheese and within the hour you will be enjoying the food the drink the ambience and world class jazz in fabulous intimate atmosphere. We have visited every time we go to Madrid and have been wowed each time.

Join the Gin and Tonic revolution in this fantastic bar/restaurant among the other hum drum placed on Gran Via.

Spain practically Madrid is the birthplace on the modern gin revolution. This bar offers a fantastic range of gins from old style traditional gins to modern trendy new wave ones.

To people from the UK the way they serve gin here might be a little unique rather than tall glasses with a few lumps of ice and lime if you are lucky. They serve it in a large wine goblet packed with ice and the appropriate fruit or spice to accentuate the flavours in the chosen gin.

This is the perfect place for the gin connoisseur to relish in their range or even the gin newbie to get educated in the gin revolution.

If the temperature outside is getting hot and you need a drink and a light lunch, step in to one of the numerous Museo del Jamon restaurants and bars around the city centre. We tried the one at 6, Carrera de San Jeronimo, not far from Sol. The shop is one huge walk in cold room with hundreds of hams hanging from the ceiling as far as the eye can see. Attractive cold display counters of meats down one side of the shop and a U-shaped food and drinks bar in the centre. Rolls and croissant filled with Parma Ham with side dishes and salads all at reasonable prices. (So good even the Guardian did a centre page spread 2.8.06)

Reputed to be the oldest taberna in the city, this Lavapiés bar is a wonderful, dimly-lit celebration of the bullfighter's art. The dark, wood-panelled walls are covered with mounted bulls' heads (one of which is said to have killed Antonio Sánchez, the son of the founder). At the back is resolutely old-fashioned dining room where you can feast on jamón and queso tapas or tortilla de San Isidro.